Nwobodo equally accused the two surviving children from his first marriage, Chukwudi and Nonso, of stealing the corpse of their older brother, the late Ifeanyichukwu Nwobodo, who died recently after battling with cancer.
Ifeanyichukwu's burial, which was scheduled to hold on Friday, was aborted after Nwobodo and the deceased's siblings disagreed over a burial site.
While the father insisted that the body would be buried outside his compound, the children maintained that the grave must be within the residence.
To compound the impasse generated by the row, Ifeanyichukwu's corpse was not available for burial – it was gathered that his siblings relocated the body from the mortuary to an unknown destination, in order to prevent it from being interred in a grave dug within the compound of a newly erected bungalow which Nwobodo built after the son's death.
Nwobodo broke his silence on the matter while addressing journalists at his house in Amechi, Awkunanaw, Enugu, on Tuesday.
In an emotion-laden voice, the former governor stated his own side of the story.
He said, "This is not really a very happy occasion for me – at my age, I should be talking about peace and not to get involved in something like this.
"Ifeanyi was my first son and unknown to us, myself and my wife, his family hid him.
"When we got to know that he was sick, we were very worried, we made sure he was taken to the best cancer hospital in the US."
Continuing, he revealed that trouble started soon after Ifeanyichukwu died.
"From the day he died, I started planning for his burial. Because of politics, I felt that I should bury him before the primaries.
"Chukwudi and Nonso (Ifeanyi's siblings) came to see me here and I told them that the burial will be in two weeks time, that they should come back so that we could plan for it.
"As I am talking, I have seen neither Chukwudi nor Nonso till date.
"Their sister, who came back from US and called me to say that she is back, as I am talking to you, I have not seen her.
"You start to wonder- what kind of children are these?" he added.
He blamed his former wife for the actions of Ifeanyichukwu's siblings, saying "it also depicts the character of their mother and her children."
The former governor emphasised that he has only one wife, having divorced his former wife.
"The press said I have two wives – it is not true. I divorced her (former wife) before I became governor. I have the divorce papers, please don't refer to me as having two wives. I am a decent man. I have only one wife. Please save me the trouble and embarrassment of talking about matrimonial trouble, the church will not wed me if I have two wives.
"The children through her (former wife) cannot be said to have been flesh and blood. I am stopping at that – you know what I mean. A child that is yours will not hurt you like this, these children cannot be my flesh and blood.
"My children love me. It is only children that are not yours that will seize their brother's dead body. If they can steal the dead body of their brother, it is terrible, unprecedented."
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Jim Nwobodo, when I was a child I used to think that you are a human beign. I never knew you were just empty ( walking dead). I am so sorry for you. You have lost every respect I had for you. Why would you be interested in Ifeanyi's corpse when you said that they are not your children? Shame on you. See those illiterate villagers are better than you are. A goat is even better that you in reasoning. You are a blatant lier. You want peace indeed. How well did you care for these children from Mukosolu? Useless man. He goat like you. At this age, you are still bearing grudges against your blood children. Look at the kind of demeaning atitude you displayed on that friday in the presence of over 8 governors including the Selfish and greedy deputy senate president and the anglican bishop of Enugu. Infact Chudi and Nonso are heroes. I am very proud of them with the way they handled this Ifeanyi's buring. Am sure if they are asked to chose between you, Jim Nwobido and satan, they will chose satan. You are simply a disgrace to humanity.
ReplyDeleteJim, even going by ur story, it is obvious u don't hav a good relatnship with ur children. U hav not cared for them as a father should. U claimed u hav not seen them till date, did look for them as a responsible father would? Hav u forgotten the parable of the lost sheep? How the owner left 99 and went in search of the one missing? That is d attitude of o gud father. Even if u hate their mother, must u transfer d hatred to them? If u claim they were not well brought up, then u take d blame. When u drove their mother away, they stayed with you all through. Moreso, since Ifeanyi was ur first son and also has a son, according to lgbo custom, he is entitled to ur 'Obi'. So why do u want to bury him in a forest where u built d so called bungalow? I advise dat u retrace ur steps and do what is right, just and fair b4 d God Almighty whom we all claim to serve.
ReplyDeleteThis man is a disgrace to his generations, what a wicked father
ReplyDeleteGood morning Nigerianeye.com/moderator/editor.
ReplyDeleteSo far have been reading posts and news on this site. I can say your comment portion have not been well moderated and censured, you let people insult other people's religion and believes and also rain curses and abuses on statesmen/women and others.
If your site is to go far, I will encourage you to moderate this part. Thank you.
It's so unfortunate that a father can talk lik this about his children. It shows great hate & animosity. You want to please the woman you call your wife now & the sacrifice u can offer her is your children from your first marriage!
ReplyDeleteGod help you. Your children should cut you loose..you don't have the qualities of a father; judging by your interview with pressmen. You will one day discover that you are very lonely & have no offspring that cares about you.
Obinna O
People should be mindful about their utterances.
ReplyDeleteThe man has a right to determine who gets what.
He is still the head of his family.
There is no tradition that encourages any child to be disrespectful and more so, belligerent to his parents. In addition, there is no automatic inheritance to obi, when the head of the family is there to determine how his assets would be administered.
On a final note, the Igbo adage that says: Nwa ewu runata ani, o nuo nne ya ala still stands. Those of you who sit there and run your mouth should put yourself in Jim's position. The end losers are Ifeanyi's siblings. Any act of insurbodination, more so, a gross one for that matter must be discouraged. Any act of cult-like behavior whether at home or anywhere has to be censured. "Call a spade a spade". Kpoo ihe ojo ihe ojo. Umuaka ahu melu nso ani. I hope they discover themselves and make amends with their father before it's too late.